Four years ago I was firmly on the Captain Tackles fan train. McCaw was everything we liked in player. Smart, fast, big, at the edge of the rules and a work horse. He shone in the statistics that we like: first to the breakdown, tackles, test caps. He is the stereotypical All Black, all stoic and shit.

It feels like so long since that World Cup and now I’ve got a problem and I can’t shake it. Sports and politics, man. Yeah yeah yeah I know. It’s my problem to deal with.

The more the All Blacks align themselves with John Key the more I hate them. Remember this:

I liked Dan Carter when he was an underwear model who helped us score more points than Australia. As soon as he has an ideology then he’s got something I can disagree with.

So a litany of “Hey John Key just showed up in our locker room for a post-game beer” photos, with Richie always in the middle, began to slowly wear me down. Then the politician I strongly disagree with is on the cover of Rugby News as the All Blacks number one fan.

In my head the idea of the All Blacks as a national team is slowly pushed out and now they are a National team.

I figured this would all slide away when the team finally took the field against Argentina. Then Richie, always playing to the edge of the rules, and often over them, reaches out with his foot and trips a player. I was watching ITV so there was no New Zealand commentary to soften the blow, he just played dirty.

Past Hadyn may have shaken his head but let it go by; present Hadyn couldn’t. My mind was filled with swearing and anger at a player I used to admire.

The All Blacks win over Argentina and I feel a little better, but I think I’ve realised that I’m comfortable with this team losing the cup.

Twitter automatically suggests hashtags when you start typing, so how did a clear typo become a highly suggested tag for such a big event? Well if the organisers want to blame anyone, it should probably be themselves.

If you’re wondering why so many people haven’t noticed what they are tweeting, it’s because humans have learned to read fast and you can still raed wodrs qiuckly even if there are small typos.

Upset

Upsets at the Rugby World Cup are rare. Japan’s game plan against South Africa was perfect: attacking the old players at a pace and saying “keep up”. Looking at that on the surface it seemed like they could beat anyone. But Scotland aren’t the same as South Africa, Japan had a short turnaround to the next game and Scotland had the advantage of seeing Japan play. I’m sure Japan will be back up for their next game though.

Seeing the celebrations after the game brought back strong memories of the final game Japan played at the last World Cup. JK’s team came away winless and after drawing with Canada. Fans in the crowd were crying, the Japanese media wanted Kirwan’s head and his soft spoken captain had to come to his defence.

The emotions after the South Africa game were raw and pure and the result of so many rabid fans with nothing to celebrate for so many years.

Tim realised in 2013, that the students he was teaching (10 year olds) had no living memory of a losing All Black team – this project is a way of reminding/refreshing ourselves of those memories – not just of the ABs, but of all the many teams and players that have been part of the rugby world cup since 1987.

The more the All Blacks align themselves with John Key the more I hate them.

I could sometimes overlook youthful individuals saying stuff. Whatever. What gets me is All Blacks and NZ Rugby Management seeming to have a complete disinterest in what the players say when associated with the team and its brand, and at times outright enabling political alignment.

Maybe you can’t always stop Dan Carter from blabbing about his favourite guy on twitter, or Richie McCaw for answering a question about his favourite flag, but why is the PM allowed into the dressing rooms for obviously politically motivated photos? Why is a rugby magazine allowed to use the AB’s brand and player photos in clearly politicised image? Why is the team announced on the steps of parliament?? These are all the things which NZ Rugby can and should be in control of. It seems high risk management for the brand in such a highly polarised political environment, so what do they expect to get for it?

As for the politics issue - most sports "heroes" turn out to be unsound, I'm afraid. Mix money and a conservative mindset, it's no surprise. It's just that these days we know more about it (coz social media is to blame for everything!!11!!).

We could put together an alternative squad of reported Not-Nats if you like ... Jerome Kaino, Anton Oliver, Stacey Jones - see, I'm struggling here.

- Plus, they pay no income tax under a Taxes Act provision that exempts bodies established mainly to promote an amateur game or sport. Rugby has been professional since 1995 and whilst the NZRFU spends some money on amateur club rugby, it's a small portion of their total revenue.I assume that they are allowed this somewhat extra-legal concession for political reasons.

- and then there's all the loss making stadia that get subsidized by tax and rate payers.

I pretty much agree with the general gist of your post Hadyn, but complaining about the National Party being linked to rugby is a bit like complaining about the Greens being popular with people in the arts - that's simply the crowd they attract, historically.

Also, to state the obvious, the explosion of social media has enhanced and made public those links. I expect that beforehand, plenty of All Blacks, rightly or wrongly, voted National, but didn't have the need or means to say they'd done so, publically.

Even if they hadn't said so publically, it'd pretty much be a foregone conclusion that, to use an above example, Dan Carter, would've voted National anyway, given he's from a small, rural town.

Their politics aside, I also have reservations about the ABs RWC squad, too. Too many ,such as McCaw are a yard off the pace, too many others are there on reputation not form (especially among the tight five) and others shouldn't even be there.

The recent win over a so-so Wallabies is a flash in the pan. We will struggle in the knock-out games, simple as that.

Has any other PM been so matey-matey with the AB "brand"? Sure, there's always politicians interacting with the national team(s), and there is a world cup on, but I struggle to recall anything so smacking of "I'll scratch your back..."

This is a trend I am also growing to dislike intensely (and would dislike even if their politics matched mine). Members of any national team should be keeping their politics to themselves. They are supposed to be representing the whole nation, not just part of it.

I reckon National is trial-ballooning Richie for PM, actually, since nobody in their caucus is at all likable (apart from Key, and that's debatable).

I'm going to wade in for Richie here. He's between a rock & a hard place and you can't tell me Andrew Little wouldn't be all over him like a rash if Labour were currently in government. Key embarrasses himself over the changing room snapchats and the Richie for MP comments but McCaw answered that suggestion very well along the lines of "not for me, not interested, why would I want to do that because I'd immediately lose the support of half the population when I can currently have the support of everyone" etc...

Yeh, he likes the Silver Fern flag, of course he does. Probably votes National as well, and he may well like JK, but as far as I'm aware he's never done anything to say he's a bigoted, violent, red neck neo liberal asshat.

I don't like crappy hero worship (unless it's Otis, Marvin, James and Curtis) but he's done his talking on the field and I don't think we fully realise just how incredible his achievements are, even if we lose this World Cup.

I was aghast to discover a little while back that the RWC hadn't even started yet ... And there are 8 more weeks of sports in the wrong place in the news to go ....

The airnz safety film yesterday was particularly cringeworthy ... at this point I've stopped watching them on principal which I suspect is not the goal. And having the screen in front of my seat saying "kia ora Paul" when I sat down was borderline creepy.

I suspect that in the past, the ABs may've been told not to publically endorse, or do something that looks like endorsing, anything contentious, like politics.

About 20 years ago (possibly in an excellent cover story on him in the Listener by Denis Welch), Colin Meads said that he always made the point of going to a different voting booth as Jim Bolger on election day, so he could specifically avoid the chance of photo-op of he and Bolger together - and thus giving the impression of endorsement.

They very likely knew each other anyway, but at least Meads was wise enough to avoid publically being in Bolger's company.

Most of that's for Sevens, on the basis that it's an Olympic sport. The men's and women's Sevens teams received more than $1m each on the basis that they're likely gold medallists.

Rugby has been professional since 1995 and whilst the NZRFU spends some money on amateur club rugby, it's a small portion of their total revenue.

About a quarter of NZ rugby's $120m revenue goes into grants to provincial unions and game development and I'd guess tens of millions more of the funding for competitions and representative teams goes to non-professional tiers (most ITM Cup players aren't professionals, for instance).

Given that there are 150,000 people playing the game, rugby pays its way more than most sports. Rowing and competitive cycling will get more government funding than rugby this year, for instance. And Lydia Ko has personally received nearly half a million in government grants over the past three years – again, on the basis that she's a likely medal winner. It's all dictated by the high-performance sports funding National introduced in 2009.

I still don't see how spending 25% of their revenue on amateur rugby makes that their *main* purpose. By any normal standard, their main purpose is professional rugby and a secondary purpose is the amateur game.

Yeh, he likes the Silver Fern flag, of course he does. Probably votes National as well

The timing and location (RWC team announcement/The Beehive) of those statements and the fact that he’s the captain/ spokesman of a team that the nation is expected to support probably didn’t help much there.

If it were Clyde rather than James making the statement, different story.

Yes, I'd certainly take Richie over some of his apartheid-blind predecessors (honourable exception: Graham Mourie).

Generally I think the whole Key = McCaw line is overblown. Key is doing what he does. Whereas McCaw just mumbled an answer to a question from Patrick Gower on TV3 and got turned into an unwanted headline.

Well everybody is entitled to their opinions, though I note you don't allow McCaw that rightAmazes me how quickly people forget what the other side did especially if they are supportersI give you Miss Clark who broke the law ( or encouraged her police escort to do ) to rush to a league game that I suggest she had as much interest in as I have in tap dancing because it would go down well with her votersDifferent when we do it, maybe or just what pollies of all stripes will do to stay in power

There's such an easy way to spike National's guns here. We just need a Rugby Party, which promises that the nation will be run by and for the All Blacks. Then the All Blacks can safely endorse it with impunity. It's first leader will be his royal Snaffleness, Sir Ritchie, should he choose to accept it. Which ever side comes out on top in the election has nothing to lose by aligning with him, and making him the Minister of Rugby.

Then, at the end of the day, even in a game of two halves, rugby will always be the winner.

I give you Miss Clark who broke the law ( or encouraged her police escort to do ) to rush to a league game that I suggest she had as much interest in as I have in tap dancing because it would go down well with her voters

Pretending to be interested in sport is something NZ prime ministers have to do. But sitting in the stands at a netball game so bored you can barely keep your eyes open is a world away from having the World Cup launch at parliament. I can't fathom why the NZRU agreed to that.